Residents flee villages, as gunmen kill 3 vigilantes in Kaduna

Residents of 16 villages in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State have fled their homes for fear of attacks. It was gathered that the vigilante members in the area had visited the hideout of the bandits to confront them. Daily Trust learnt that the gunmen killed three of the vigilantes before storming the villages […]

Residents of 16 villages in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State have fled their homes for fear of attacks. It was gathered that the vigilante members in the area had visited the hideout of the bandits to confront them.

Daily Trust learnt that the gunmen killed three of the vigilantes before storming the villages and ordered the people to leave.

It was further learnt that the whereabouts of some of the vigilante members are still unknown. People who fled the villages, mostly women, children and elderly are now taking refuge at Local Education Authority Primary School, Birnin Yero, along the Kaduna-Zaria highway.

Our correspondent who visited the primary school observed that armed security agencies, comprising soldiers, police and Civil Defence, were stationed at the area to avoid any breakdown of law and order.

The Village Head of Anguwar ‎Gide, Malam Jibril Abdullahi, said after the members of the vigilante in the area confronted the gunmen at their hideout in the bush, the bandits stormed their villages on Sunday afternoon and ordered them to vacate the area.

The villages; Dura, Anguwar Gide, Anguwar Dan Gauta, Anguwar Nayawo, Anguwar Makeri, Jigani, Sabon Gida, Dallatu, Anguwar Ahmadu, Sabon Gari.

Others are; Kosau,gidan Sarkin Noma, Anguwar pati, Anguwar Amfani, Anguwar Tofa and Soran Giwa.

All the people from these villages have been displaced. As we speak I have three wives but am yet to see one of them and my children.

“Presently, we have about 1200 people here at the primary school, living as refugees,” the village head said. He added that the bandits have been terrorising them for months, forcing people to stay away from their farms.

‎Another displaced resident, Salisu Lawal, confirmed that three vigilantes were killed by the gunmen. He gave their names as Danbirni, Yushehu and Tukur, who was the son of the village head of Bakin Kasuwa. He said some other vigilantes are yet to be accounted for as there has been no information about their whereabouts since they entered the forest.

“We want to return home and continue with our farming activities. We have family to cater for and we cannot continue to be refugees here,” he said.

But the police in its reaction said what happened was that some members of a vigilante group went to confront some suspected bandits and the vigilante suffered casualty.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Yaubu Sabo, said the people in the surrounding communities on hearing what happened moved out of their settlements out of fear.

He said there were however no attacks on the communities.

“People from the various communities moved to converge on the Primary School out of fear but there were no attacks on 16 communities,” he said.

The PPRO said the police have waded into the matter and calm has returned. He also said some of the people  have started returning to their communities.